A large proportion of healthy African Americans have been observed to have a white blood cell count (WBC) that is persistently lower than the normal range defined for individuals of European ancestry [1]â[5].
Energy is only released when chemical bonds are formed. In general, a chemical reaction involves two steps: 1) the original chemical bonds between the atoms are broken, and 2) new bonds are formed. These two steps are sometimes lumped into one event for simplicity, but they are really two separate events.
As you said, it's true that breaking bonds always absorbs energy. But breaking bonds is just halfway through for a chemical reaction. Forming new ones releases energy. The difference within determines a chemical reaction endothermic or exothermic. For ATP hydrolysis, the bonds within an ATP and a water molecule break, which absorbs energy, as you might think. Then the new bonds formation to form an ADP and a phosphate releases a lot of energy.